Stairway Conversations: The Mystery Box

We’re all curious: What’s that box in the Hemmingson rotunda? Well, I’m not even sure, but I’ve gathered some ideas.

Date: November 9, 2015

Building: Hemmingson

Staircase: Rotunda Stairs

Overheard: “What’s that box?”

I’ve heard so many things about that box in the rotunda of the Hemmingson Center, but I think after almost a week of gathering information I have a pretty good idea.

The mysterious box has actually gone through a transformation of its own. It’s quite intriguing, really. The first day the box made its appearance there was a caution sign on it. Without reading it, I thought Gonzaga had some surprise that needed to be hidden . . . and need to be lifted up by some pretty heavy-duty straps. Well, upon reading it, I got a completely different story.

Then, the next day, the box read “Live animals.” (That one was kind of awkward to explain to the people on my tour.) Then a couple of days later the box was bare. And now, the Gonzaga community has put that box that everyone walks around to use – it’s the newest bulletin board on campus. If there’s ever a problem, just leave it to a Zag to make something useful out of it.

It seems, at this point, that there are heavy weights inside of this box that are anchoring the stairs down. In the past, before this box came into our lives, we could sit on the second and third floor with a bit of anticipation – we were able to constantly wonder when the next mini-quake would come pulsating through the floor. They were kind of fun, though, right? Just a bit of bouncing added to your early-afternoon study time.

Maybe not.

I’m just glad that it seems we are doing something about it. The previous shaking really seemed to bug some students – and rightfully so. With a new building, most expect it to be perfect, but, unfortunately, in most cases, the opposite is true. Back home there was a skyscraper that went up downtown and they ended up have to chop off the top floors because of construction issues. Luckily for us, though, I don’t think we’ll be losing the third floor of Hemmingson.

I’ve also heard that the University is in the process of planning a reconstruction of the staircase – which will hopefully involve removing the box and the shaking.

Update: The mystery box has *mysteriously* vanished — and it doesn’t seem like anything was done about the shaking.